Eating disorders are widely considered to be a female disease.

Those of you who are reading this post and are knowledgeable about eating disorders are thinking, “oh, no they’re not.”

But the vast majority of the population still regards eating disorders as a female disease. This includes many general medical practitioners.

You might be surprised to learn how many males with eating disorder symptoms are told by their family doctor, “you can’t have an eating disorder – that is a female disease.”

But it is an eating disorder. And they are male. They are a male with an eating disorder.

It happens…and much more often than most of us may suspect.

Males with eating disorders need support even more than others who suffer. The shame, the silence, the secrecy, the stigma….it is truly horrific.

Just imagine the strength and courage – the raw hutzpah – it takes to reach out for support, when almost every support group, treatment center, peer mentoring group, and clinician’s office is full to the gills with females struggling from the same disease.

Daunting.

Yet this is also a very exciting time for us as we welcome a few courageous male leaders who are stepping out into the limelight to share their story, their struggle, their triumph, and their hope not just as  speakers or teachers, but as mentors as well.

Males with eating disorders are welcome to join M.O.R.E.

We are very lucky on MentorCONNECT to have one such leader – a young trailblazer named Troy Roness who is spearheading MentorCONNECT’s M.O.R.E. (Males Owning Recovery from Eating Disorders) support group.

M.O.R.E. is a group just for male members of MentorCONNECT who want to have a safe space to talk through issues related to being a male with an eating disorder diagnosis inside a largely female community.

Troy Roness, eating disorders survivor, National Eating Disorders Junior Board member, and MentorCONNECT Advisory Board member, is helping us to change the face of support for males with eating disorders.

We will feature more about Troy’s story in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!

But for now, if you are male and you are struggling with an eating disorder, or you know of a male who is struggling, please know that M.O.R.E. is just one of many resources for males who struggle.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

M.O.R.E. (Males Owning Recovery from Eating Disorders)

Males Get Eating Disorders Too

I Chose to Live

National Association for Males with Eating Disorders

Today’s Takeaway: Whether you are male or female, young or old, and regardless of your financial means or diagnosis, there is always at least one reason (or excuse) lingering around, trying to convince you that reaching out for support is useless. It isn’t. What can you tell that excuse – right now, today, about why you CAN find support, there ARE others will understand, and you WILL get better, no matter what it takes?!

Photo by NewZ2000, available under a Creative Commons attribution license.

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    Last reviewed: 11 Feb 2011